


Heaven and Hell

by NoPerson



Series: Klance Week 2016 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Brief Cuddling, Brief discussion of religion, Klance Week 2016, M/M, Major Character Injury, day 3: hell/heaven, this also may or may not be a little late
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-29 22:03:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7701436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoPerson/pseuds/NoPerson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance contemplates the extremes of his relationship and experiences the worst and the best of Hell and Heaven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heaven and Hell

Lance has never really been the kind of person who puts his faith in religion. Sure, he had grown up around it, had even gone to church and Sunday school when he was just a kid. But as he had grown older and learned to find out his own beliefs, he had decided to leave behind religion. 

He still remembers some of the things he learned as a child, but most of the memories are foggy. The one thing that sticks out, however, is when he had learned about Heaven and Hell. He remembers all of the lovely descriptions his Sunday school teacher had used when describing paradise. He remembers being told that the good go to Heaven, that if he did good things in life he could go to that great place when he died and continue on in peace. Hell had been described with frigid language. His Sunday school teacher had warned them that they should never want to go to hell, that only the really bad people went there like the ones who went to prison and did horrible things. Lance had been honestly scared of ending up in Hell, so much so that he had spent the next few weeks picking up extra chores around the house until his mom sat down with him and assured him he would never end up in Hell.

Being with Keith is like constantly switching between Heaven and Hell. 

Heaven exists in the euphoria after completing successful missions, the joyful teasing and laughter and tears that come when the team gets out of their lions to find the battle won, when Lance sees Keith’s calmly satisfied face that is drenched in sweat from the battle and he knows that everything is okay. It exists in the competitive sparring sessions they have, in the way Lance watches Keith move gracefully with his fists in a manner that makes his heart pump faster and his skin flush until he falls only to find Keith staring down at him with mirth in his eyes. It exists in endearing arguments they have, in the passion in their words when they fight back and forth while their team runs out of the room and hopes for an escape. It exists in the way Keith smiles softly at him when he thinks Lance isn’t looking, in the tender touches and light kisses that leaves them both with a blush on their cheeks. 

But, there can be no Heaven without Hell. 

Hell exists in the bitter fights they have, the ones that are not playful or funny but are filled with hateful words and regrets that they’ll later apologize for. It exists in the bad days they each have, when Lance’s homesickness makes him snap at anything within ten feet and Keith’s recurring loneliness and difficulty socializing makes Lance frustrated to the point of snapping. It exists in their disagreements, in Keith’s upsettingly cold logic and Lance’s optimism and loyalty on the difficult missions that look like everything has gone south. It exists in words gone too far, in insults meant to be taken back and in bad habits that have yet to be shaken. 

Even with all of their struggles and differences, the sweet taste of Heaven makes enduring Hell that much more valuable.

Still there are some times when Hell is hard to endure, and usually, it’s not even their faults. 

That angers Lance more than their petty fights and disagreements ever could. Because sometimes, neither of them are to blame and Lance loses control.

The worst kind of Hell exists when everything goes wrong and Keith is left bleeding in his arms.

Fighting against the Galra has always been tasking. Sure, there’s a certain part of it that’s thrilling and exciting, but it starts to wear down on the paladins. There’s a special kind futility that comes with fighting against an empire that’s been growing for over 10,000 years. But they have to do it anyways, because it has become their job to help save the universe. 

There are days when battles are easier. When they can sling their arms over each other’s shoulders and say it’s a job well done.

But some days are harder. Some days come with a price that none of them are willing to pay.

On this particular day, they had infiltrated a Galra ship. Lance, Keith, and Hunk had gone to one end of the ship to act as a distraction while Pidge and Shiro hacked into the ship to gain information on various Galra bases. Everything had been going relatively fine with the trio’s battle but the forces had quickly become overwhelming. They could barely manage to watch each other’s backs and Lance had been busy shooting a soldier away from Hunk’s exposed flank when that shadow fell over him. He only had the time to turn and face the soldier holding a sword high above his head, prepared to strike him down within seconds when a loud shout came from the left and Lance could only watch in horror as Keith leapt in front of him right as the sword came down and stabbed him in the stomach.

The battle seemingly pauses as Lance’s eyes widen only to see the sword violently torn out of Keith’s body, its blade now coated in bright red blood. Keith crumples to his knees and Lance screams as his vision goes red. When it clears, the soldier with the sword has been shot through the chest by Lance’s bayard along.

He makes eye contact with Hunk out of the corner of his eye. The yellow paladin’s face covered with sweat and his back is pressed against Lance. He nods at Lance, his face understanding of the situation as Lance ducks down to Keith so Hunk can spin around and shoot out the most immediate threats. 

Lance’s heart nearly stops at the way Keith looks at him, his face pale and sweaty and his eyes glazed over with confusion and pain. His hands are clutched loosely at his middle, sickening red spilling through his fingers and dripping onto the floor. Lance wants to get him out of here, he wants to sob and run his fingers through the ridiculous mullet until everything is good again. 

His hands hover over Keith, unsure of what he can and should do. He’s prepared to just grab him and go, the mission thrown away, but Keith’s eyes clear for a moment and he glares at Lance like he knows what he’s thinking. He hates how willing Keith is to put aside his own well-being but he knows Keith is right. From the status updates in their helmets from Pidge and Shiro, they are barely half-finished with the download and they can’t leave yet. 

Keith nods at him and manages a shaky smile so Lance wipes the tears out of his eyes and rises to fight with Hunk. They keep Keith between the two of them, the fallen paladin protected by their bodies as they shoot down soldier after soldier. Every time Keith groans or coughs, Lance can only helplessly look down at him and puddle of blood that’s starting to form. Finally, the endless stream of soldiers ends and Lance doesn’t waste a second in getting to Keith.

He’s fallen out of his kneeling position and now lies on his side, the blood from his torso coating the black, white, and red of his suit before sliding onto the floor. His chest is barely moving and his eyes are closed and Lance feels a horrible fear curl around heart. He falls to the floor and immediately pulls Keith close to him, patting his cheek desperately with one hand and pressing the other into the warm and sticky blood. A couple of drops of water fall onto Keith’s cheek and it takes Lance a moment to realize that it’s his own tears.

“Oh, man.” Hunk says from above Lance. “This is really bad.”

“Paladins?” Allura’s stern voice crackles to life in Lance’s helmet along with the rest of the team’s helmets. “What’s going on?”

“Keith’s hurt.” Lance manages to croak out. His voice sounds horrible but he can’t find it in him to care because Keith still hasn’t opened his eyes. “He’s hurt bad. We need to get back to the ship as soon as possible.”

“Lance,” Shiro’s voice is calm and comforting and Lance wants to sob harder. “It’ll be okay. Pidge and I are almost done so you guys can get back to your lions and get Keith out of here.”

Lance nods and looks at the ceiling to blink tears out of his eyes, even though the others can’t see him, so Hunk replies with their affirmative answer. 

When Lance looks back down, Keith’s eyes are half open and Lance wants to jump with joy.

“Hey,” Lance says. “Stay with me. You’ll be fine, you just have to stay with me.”

Keith cracks a smile and his voice comes out as a ragged and breathy whisper. “You’re cradling me in your arms.”

Lance give a watery laugh. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

He shifts Keith in his arms, muttering encouragement and reassurances whenever he lets out a moan of pain. He manages to rise with Keith in a bridal carry, his steps shaky at first. Keith is surprisingly heavy but Lance knows he would carry anything if it meant getting Keith out of here.

Hunk leads the way, checking around corners and waving the slower Lance by when the coast is clear. After about every other corridor, Keith’s eyes start to slip shut again so Lance panics and coaxes him into keeping them open with kind words motivated by pure desperation. 

When they’re almost to their lions, Keith mutters something unintelligible and his eyes close. Lance shakes him and shouts but nothing gets Keith to wake up. His breaths are shallow and the blood is everywhere and Lance is starting to really panic. He doesn’t feel anything anymore except worry so he sprints all the way to their lions, Hunk chasing after him. 

A lump of dread settles into Lance’s gut when they get to the hangar. “How are we going to get the Red Lion back?”

“It should follow you on its own.” Allura chimes in urgently. With her being the Voltron expert, Lance decides to trust in her word and runs to the Blue Lion. Hunk clasps him heavily on his shoulder before splitting up to get in his own lion. “Coran will have a healing pod ready for you when you arrive.”

Lance straps into his seat and carefully situates Keith across his lap so he can still pilot while keeping pressure on the wound. At another time, Lance would certainly make some jokes about this situation, but Keith needs him and he will never let him down.

Miraculously, they all get out of there alive. Shiro and Pidge get all of the information they need and start compiling it into the ship’s database as soon as they return. For hours, they remain next to the Green Lion as Pidge analyzes the data and occasionally reports on their findings. 

Keith gets put into a healing pod almost as soon as they arrive. While Lance sits impatiently in front of Keith’s eerily peaceful face and healing body, Coran quietly cleans up the blood trail they had left while running in and shares a few stories about Altea and his time in boot camp. Lance never responds to any of the stories but he appreciates Coran’s attempts to distract Lance from the memory of Keith’s closed eyes and his blood on Lance’s fingertips. 

After two days, Keith’s healing pod finally hisses open and Keith spills out of it into Lance’s waiting arms. He cries for a good few minutes and Keith pats his back and whispers comforting words like the good person he is until Lance pulls away to smile and drag Keith away to eat something.

That night, Lance has his arms wrapped around Keith’s healed torso, the other boy peacefully sleeping as Lance trails his fingers over the raised pink scar. He can’t sleep, so he stares into the dark room and contemplates as Keith’s chest rises and falls with deep breaths. It’s quiet and calm and Lance can’t think of anywhere else he would rather be. 

Hell may be built by the worst things Lance could ever fathom, but that makes Heaven all the more precious.


End file.
